Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Yes, I know that it is important to keep up with the whole blog thing. And I have been missing it. My blog time has fallen victim to a few things:

The cutest thing it has fallen victim to has 4 legs and the cutest, wagginest tail. Right now she is giving me a reprieve and is curled up on the floor at my feet. If I could only schedule that behavior. It is very much like having a toddler. But I am enjoying my Hadley.

Having a puppy also mean puppy class. So, we are practicing. Hadley now throws "sit" and "down" my way whenever she thinks she deserves a treat.

Running. I am running my first race since field day in elementary school. (Yes, that was a really long time ago. I didn't win then and don't anticipate winning now. But finishing would be good!) So, I've been trying to put time in running. The race is 4.37 miles (one sixth of a marathon as the folks that the running club like to point out).

This makes an excellent prelude to my competitive spirit. Yes, I have one of those. At work, we are having an 8 week health challenge. Everyone in my office is in on it. We get points for every minute of exercise, for eating fruits, vegetables, and having dairy, for reading about a health topic, for making a healthy dish and sharing it, for any number of things. It might not be too bad except out of 37 teams we placed 6th the first week. So, I've set the sights on 1st. (Last week we were 2nd.) The only problem is that rank is determined by the average number of points per person on each team. The one person team currently out front has an advantage. But they are also missing the advantage of having everyone in their office eating smarter. Our monthly junk food/pot luck day was turned into "Healthy Food Day." For every healthy dish that was prepared and shared we got points! But the competitive spirit has kicked in. Why only exercise 60 minutes when 120 will get you double the points?

Read immediately above if you cannot fathom why I'm tuckered.

But I hope to do better here soon.... If you think of it pray for me on Saturday at the race!

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Compassion International

Welcome

Welcome to "God's Work in Progress." I've found that this is often a true statement of things in my life. I am nothing without God's work and grace in my life.

I've struggled with depression since I was 10. This is what I've discovered about depression: it is a thief and a liar. It sneaks into a person's life and steals energy, enthusiasm, joy, self - confidence. It hampers relationships and can b e hindrance to more. More than anything depression steals hope. It makes me beleive that tomorrow is as dark as today and that it will never get better. It taunts me, shouting at times that it will always be like this, I will never get fully better, and because of that I am a failure of great proportions.

I must find a way to shine truth on those lies. Depression is an illness. There is a biological component to it. Like any illness it needs treatment. No one would tell a heart attack victim not to go to the hospital. I am not defined by depression unless I choose to let it define me. But I choose to be defined by hope and love and faith and not depression.

At the heart of this blog you will find posts entitled "Hope Chronicles." I started them the end of 2007 and have committed to writing at least weekly about hope. These posts are my attempt to combat this thief and liar and deeply instill in myself the trust of God's promises and that our chief hope is Jesus.

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Resplendent Quetzal

Happy Consequences

As my eight-year-old daughter and I were just leaving to go to the bus stop, we hesitated to look at the roses about to bloom outside our door. She then regaled me with information about rose-hips and how they are full of seeds, but also full of vitamin C and that quetzals love to eat them.

I turned to her and said, "You know the most interesting things!"

She smiled and said, "That's one of the happy consequences of reading."

(I confess that I had to look up quetzal as her vocabulary outstrips mine. It is a type of brilliantly colored bird.)